


Escaping destiny

by kitbug



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Choking, Collector Ship, Gen, Minor Violence, Springing the Trap, Swearing, and then escaping it, harbinger is creepy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-10
Updated: 2019-01-10
Packaged: 2019-10-07 16:10:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17369129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitbug/pseuds/kitbug
Summary: Shepard almost doesn't make it out of the trap set for her on the Collector ship.  She learns some disturbing truths about herself and them.





	Escaping destiny

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to [EllsterSMASH](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllsterSMASH/pseuds/EllsterSMASH)for beta-ing!

“This isn’t looking good, Shepard.”  Zaeed peered around the corner to shoot a collector drone and ducked back.

“I know, I know!  I knew this was a fucking trap.  Too quiet to be anything but.” Shepard fired off a biotic wave that sent several collectors flying and moved up the hall.  Thane and Zaeed fell in behind her.

“What’s the plan?” Thane asked as he sniped one with a perfect shot between the eyes.

“We get the fuck out of here.”

“Eloborate as always.”  Thane’s lip quirked as he picked off another.

“Yeah well, you better do it quick.  That ship is powering up and I am not losing another Normandy,”  Joker called over the comms.

“Noted.”

**“You cannot escape your destiny, Shepard.”**

The unnaturally deep voice sent a shiver down her spine.  “Goddammit. Of course he’s here too. Cover me, I’ll take care of him.”  Biotics flared around her as she shot across the hall in a charge that could, and had, taken out a tank.  It was a fast, reckless attack that almost always paid off, and had worked especially well against the possessed collectors on Horizon.

Just before she connected, a hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck with strength that would have crushed it if not for her armor.   **“If I have to tear you apart, Shepard, I will.”**

The force of her aborted charge stole the breath from her, and her biotics flickered out like a candle.  She struggled for air and scrabbled at the iron-like grip around her throat. She kicked at it, but she may as well have been a kicking at a krogan for all the good it did.  “That-- that the-- best you-- got?”

“Shepard!”

 **“Pitiful.”**  Its gaze burned to look at, even through the filters on her visor.  The hand around her throat tightened as she clawed at it, and her vision swam.   **“You escaped us before, Shepard, not again.”**  It slammed her into the floor and began dragging her stunned form across the room.    **“You will embrace perfection.  We are the Harbinger of your ascendance.”**

Her body remembered the last time it had been robbed of air, and her blood pounded a wild staccato in her ears.  She reached for the shotgun clipped to the back of her hips, only to find the holster empty. She spotted it lying in the dent where she’d impacted the floor.  She went instead for the handgun at her thigh and peppered it with bullets that mostly went wide from her poor angle and panic.

 **“These attacks are an insult.”**  It slammed her down again and the gun clattered across the floor.   **“I will show you true--”**

“Firing concussive shot!”

Shepard’s ears rang, but she gratefully gulped down air as the arm holding her released in Zaeed’s attack. A blur of green and black, and she pulled up and away as Zaeed unloaded his assault rifle into the glowing collector.  She stumbled after Thane behind cover and slumped down against it, dragging in deep, shuddering breaths and trying to still her pounding heart. Zaeed fell in next to them as a charge went off and disintegrated it.

 **“You have only delayed the inevitable.”** Its voice echoed around her and she shivered.

“We’re clear.  For the moment.” Zaeed gave her shoulder a rough shake.  “Pull yourself together, girl!”

“Shepard, are you alright?”  Thane’s face was unreadable through his mask, but his gravelly voice was thick with worry.

“Yeah.  Thanks. Just…”  She pulled in another breath, steadier this time.  “Just gimme a minute.”

“You don’t have a minute, you need to get back here now!” Joker barked in her ear.

“Right.”  Shepard took Thane’s hand and he pulled her to her feet.  Her sense of direction had been thrown by her trip across the floor.  “EDI, where do we go?”

_“A passage to your right will take you to the Normandy.  Unlocking now.”_

An ominous buzz echoed across the large cavern.  Zaeed clipped a new heatsink into his rifle and held it at the ready as the door was breached.

Shepard glanced at her own shotgun lying across the cavern and then back to the door, weighing if it was worth going back for.  The door slid open after what felt like an eternity and she pushed the barrel of Zaeed’s gun down and shook her head. “EDI, lock the door behind us.  Everyone move! Move!”

“If you’re not back in thirty seconds, I’m leaving your ass here!” Joker yelled over the comm.

They raced down the corridor, leaping over debris and discarded bodies.  An explosion sounded behind them as the collectors eliminated EDI’s attempt to slow them down.  Shepard cast a glance over her shoulder and waved them forward. “Keep going!”

**“You cannot escape your destiny, Shepard.”**

One by one, they reached the airlock.  Shepard ricocheted off the back door and slammed the button to close it with enough force to crack it.  As it slid shut, she tossed a grenade through and it landed at another Harbinger’s feet. The collector regarded her with its soulless glowing eyes, and somehow she could still hear it despite the barrier that now separated them.

**“This changes nothing.  I will find you again.”**

“Joker, get us the fuck out of here, now!” Shepard bellowed into the airlock’s comm panel.

“Right!  EDI, get us out of here!”

_“I need a destination, Mr. Moroe.”_

“Anywhere but here!”

The door to the cabin slid open once the airlock repressurized and Shepard ripped her helmet off.  It fell from her hand with a dull clank, and her chestpiece soon followed it. The neck of it was so dented from the Harbinger’s grip, she was surprised it hadn’t broken a seal.  

“Are you alright, Shepard?”

She turned to find Thane’s large black eyes watching her carefully, his brow creased.  His barely-visible green irises were focused on her neck, which she touched gingerly.

“Just some bruises.  I’ll heal.”

“One hell of a hickey you got there.”

The ridiculousness of Zaeed’s statement made her choke out a laugh.

The old merc pulled his own helmet off and ran a hand through what was left of his sweat-soaked hair.  “Creepy how obsessed they are with you. Can’t make out anything but your name, but still. Pretty fucking creepy.”

Shepard felt her blood run cold in her veins.  “You… you don’t understand them?”

“Hell no.”  He grunted and worked the clasps of his armor.  “Not a goddamn thing.”

“Thane?”

“No.”  His head cocked to the side, curiosity overwriting his concern.  “But you do.”

“Yeah.  But how?  EDI?”

_“The language matches none in any database I have.  Given that the Collectors are repurposed Protheans, it is very likely that they are speaking Prothean.  I can only extrapolate that Shepard’s previous contact with the Prothean beacons and cipher are giving her a subliminal understanding of the language.”_

“What did it say?” Thane asked quietly.

“Things about destiny, and ascension.  That what we’re doing, fighting them, stopping the Reapers, is futile.”  She shuddered. “That _I’ll_ never escape them.”

“And they were after your corpse right?”  Zaeed grunted low in his throat. “Fucking creepy.  Wonder what they’re planning.”

Shepard leaned back against the cool bulkhead and stared at the ceiling.  “I don’t think I _want_ to know.”

“If we stop them, none of us will have to find out.”  Thane’s voice was calm, steady. It anchored her. “As long as there is breath in my body, they will not take you.”

Before she could respond, Kelly’s voice came over her comm.  “The Illusive Man would like to speak with you, Commander Shepard.”

Shepard snarled back, “Good, because I have some choice words for him.”

Zaeed clapped her on the shoulder almost hard enough to stagger her as she walked by.  “Give ‘im hell, Shepard.”

**Author's Note:**

> Idk, just a thing I had a wild hair about a while back. Just thinking about how the Collectors would get smarter with each encounter because of a hive mind, and also toying with the idea that only Shepard could understand what they were saying. So, this happened. XD
> 
> [tumblr is here](http://kittlesandbugs.tumblr.com) if you wanna stop by and say hi or anything.


End file.
